FIG. 16 shows a structure of a conventional wireless data collection system 100.
The wireless data collection system 100 includes a wireless terminal 102 provided for a gas hot water supply 101, a wireless terminal 104 provided for a gas cooking stove 103, a wireless base station 105 for communicating with the wireless terminals 102 and 104 through a wireless communication, and a central station apparatus 108 for communicating with the wireless base station 105 through a line 107 such as a telephone line.
The wireless base station 105 includes a control section 106 for controlling an operation of the wireless base station 105.
The central station apparatus 108 is managed by companies such as, for example, a gas supply company for collecting various data on the gas hot water supply 101 and the gas cooking stove 103.
The central station apparatus 108 sends an instruction to the wireless base station 105 through the line 107 to, for example, collect data indicating an operation state of the gas hot water supply 101 or data indicating an operation state of the gas cooking stove 103.
The wireless base station 105 sends an instruction from the central station apparatus 108 using a wireless communication.
The wireless terminal 102 obtains data indicating the operation state of the gas hot water supply 101 in response to a wireless signal from the wireless base station 105, and sends the obtained data to the wireless base station 105 through a wireless communication.
The wireless terminal 104 obtains data indicating the operation state of the gas cooking stove 103 in response to a wireless signal from the wireless base station 105, and sends the obtained data to the wireless base station 105 through a wireless communication.
Upon receiving the wireless signal from the wireless terminal 102 or 104, the wireless base station 105 sends contents of the wireless signal to the central station apparatus 108 through the line 107. The operation of the wireless base station 105 is controlled by the control section 106.
However, when the control section 106 for controlling the wireless base station 105 malfunctions or a change in specifications of the control section 106 is needed, the above-described conventional wireless data collection system 100 requires the wireless base station 105 or the control section 106 to be replaced with a new one.
The wireless base station 105 is not necessarily installed at a site where the wireless base station 105 or the control section 106 can be easily replaced or can be easily accessed. When the wireless base station 105 is installed at a site where the wireless base station 105 or the control section 106 cannot be easily replaced or cannot be easily accessed, the replacement of the wireless base station 105 or the control section 106 is difficult and costly.
Furthermore, with the conventional wireless data collection system 100, whenever a change in the specifications of the control section 106 is needed, the wireless base station 105 or the control section 106 are required to be replaced.
The present invention has an objective of providing a wireless data collection system for easily dealing with a malfunction and a change in the specifications of a control section.